In Anticipation for Matriculation

My younger sister is wracked with anxiety in the wake of her final results being released. I remember feeling so naked, the thought of everyone enquiring about what you got is daunting. You would think that twelve years of yearly reports would prepare you but it does not. It's a rite of passage and you need to be prepared, but prepared for things you don't expect and things that no one warns you about.

So, in the same vein as my  Survival Guide To Matric, this is a Pep Talk to warn you about the great Anticipation of Matriculation.


1) The Interview

They'll sit with a cup of tea balanced on their lap, eyes narrowing as they remember how old you are- despite nearly eighteen years of "So what standard are you in?". They wait until your eyes have just glazed over whilst listening to their chatter about their eldest living in Canada or Auckland or Umhlanga Rocks. Anyway, they'll remember to mention how many distinctions their middle child got and B A M! Here comes the question:

"Have you got your results yet? How many did you get?"

Now brace yourself, breathe and remember all the contributions to your education this Aunty did not make (then also remember your parents raised you right, so hide your snark), then smile and reply politely that:

A) It has been released and you are quite pleased
B) You're still waiting thank you very much
C) Is that the fax machine? Excuse me I must attend to this urgent matter.

Aunties and uncles love to give you a short interview followed by a recommendation, so prepare yourself for the unvarying inquiry into your uncertain future. If you're going to go a traditional route, there will be a backhanded compliment about sticking to a boring and difficult choice. If you want to do things differently, well good luck because the you WILL be subjected to every case study they can conjure up about someone who is now homeless because they studied design or took a gap year.

Just breathe deeply and ignore it. It's your path to forge and you worked damn hard to get this far, so keep the doubts at bay. I always felt so much more anxious hearing about someone else's results being compared to mine. It's not a competition and they will have you believe it is.

2) The Waiting

Technically you've been waiting for this since the results of last years matrics came out. It's a public waiting period, scandals about exam leaks and rewrites are everywhere. It's shocking how everyone feels like they can weigh in on what the results will be like.

Your marks feel like such a personal thing, your hard work all bundled up in the hands of someone tired in a marking center. A marking center that's probably in the buttcrack of the Free State where they've served chicken in every way possible. And that sentiment can petrify you but remember that they're also teachers and they want the best marks to be put out. Also moderaters and remarks will make sure you get what you deserve.


Its agony, this brief time where everything is so up in the air. It's a strange period of limbo. The papers keep putting out headlines about how " THE MARKS ARE SO BAD AND WE ARE NOT ADJUSTING THEM" or "YOU WONT BELIEVE WHAT THE MINISTER HAD TO SAY ABOUT THIS..". They do this every year, I swear it's just to flare up panic and keep your anxiety high. The fact that you're worried is indicative that you worked so hard.

3) The Paper

Good God! Is it midnight? Is it the day? WHAT IS YOUR STUDENT NUMBER?

Seeing the paper is quite different to what you would expect. The paper is my favourite anecdote related to getting my results because by midnight, I knew my results already (this is a long story involving prawns and a lady my mother knew who worked at the Daily News)  but I didn't believe them so we headed off at 11pm, looking for a Shell Garage to camp out at. We ended up driving to Ballito and it turned out that the newspapers sent a single copy to each garage just before the actual delivery so everyone could have a look.

Great so the paper arrived and also at this particular garage, waiting, was a girl I knew and her wily father. So we waited for the paper to be handed around and suddenly everyone kept asking for the half of the paper with schools listed from L to S. Panic, since this was a hefty portion of the schools listed. Then we realised that the aforementioned father took the half of the paper with his daughters results to his car under the guise of "needing a better look". And Mr M zoomed off with his daughters distinctions in black and white. To this day my mother has something to say about that man. We ended up driving up the coast until we found a copy with my school's list of results.  I can't remember smiling so much. Because it's not so much the marks but the relief washing over you.

4) The Call

Now your marks will be sought after by distant and far flung relatives and acquaintances and your parents will be dying to tell people. Grin and bear it because it's nice at first but gets tiresome by Day 3. There are going to be calls. From aunties who interviewed you to let you know how you placed in her Internal Rankings. Because you will be told how other people in Matric (past, present, future) fared.

The most important call though, is the one where you find out when you need to be at school to pick up your results. It's highly likely that you will never see about 75% of the people there again. And that is ok.

5) The Mayfly of Matric 

The lifecycle of a mayfly involves a period of developing underwater and then suddenly emerging and flying for a very short period before dying. Matric is a mayfly in many ways- years of prep for a day. One day. Results day. And when it is over- good or bad-it is over and you never have to remember it if you don't want to. If you make it into your institution of choice and the programme- Bloody well done! If not- there are other ways to get to where you need to be. Find alternatives, get remarks. It's going to be fine. At university no one asks really, it's something you slip into a CV.

Don't stress about what people think. Really it takes years off your life when you worry about the opinions of people who don't matter. Your marks are not a badge of shame or honour that you are forced to bear. Give it a few days- it won't matter next week. Promise.